%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1339139458052949200%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.%%[[quoteright:250:[[Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chuck_gets_beat_up_2286.jpg]]]][-[[caption-width-right:250:Chuck just can't catch a break.]]-]

->''"Why universe hate Waspinator?"''-->-- '''[[WesternAnimation/BeastWars Waspinator]]''' bemoans his habit of being blown up OnceAnEpisode%%%% That's plenty of opening quote. Please click the blue quotes icon above for a place to put any others.%%

An odd sort of polar opposite to TheWoobie, The Chew Toy is a character the audience loves specifically ''because'' his or her misery amuses them so. The Chew Toy is roughed up or messed with on a constant basis... and is always, ''always'' [[PlayedForLaughs used for comic effect and treated with a light touch]], generally [[ComedicSociopathy glossing over the meaner undertones of the idea]].

Whatever the reason is, these characters just can't catch a break. Did they do something wrong in a previous life? [[HelpfulMook This life?]] Or are they just {{Innocent Bystander}}s who look as if they'd blow up in a more amusing manner than anyone else in the crowd? Who knows. Either way, the powers that be tend to inflict punishment on them for seemingly no reason, generally but not always of the slapstick physical variety.

Unlike Woobification, Chew Toys are generally designated as such in the series proper, and often have a tendency to bemoan their fate. If they're lucky, the writers will ThrowTheDogABone a time or two. If they're unlucky, they'll YankTheDogsChain. It can sometimes be a delicate balance. [[ThrowTheDogABone Throw]] too often and the character can be {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed into TheEeyore; {{Yank|TheDogsChain}} too much and the audience [[DesignatedMonkey may no longer find it funny]].

If a female Chew Toy is regularly used for physical comedy she probably is also a case of SlapstickKnowsNoGender.

Compare with the ButtMonkey (a character who is mistreated regardless of audience opinion), and TheEeyore (whose depression is usually in excess of their actual mistreatment), and the IronButtmonkey (who seems to suffer injury and accidents more frequently than anyone should, but is capable of taking it). Contrast with TheWoobie, whose suffering inspires sympathy and a desire to make things better for them instead of amusement[[note]]which category a certain character fits in may vary from person to person[[/note]]. The polar opposite is KarmaHoudini, where characters do horrible things while karma (and occasionally the other characters) sits back, watches, and [[PassThePopcorn eats popcorn]].

If the entire cast is made up of Chew Toys of some kind or another, then you're probably watching a SadistShow.

[[folder:Advertisements]]* In the mid 90s, Pizza Hut had "The Pizza Head Show", starring their mascot at the time, Pizza Head. Pizza Head was an expy of Saturday Night Live's Mr. Bill, and had a nemesis in the pizza cutter Steve who always had it in for him. Typical plots had Steve in his latest role (chef, doctor, superhero, umpire, what have you) showing up to screw Pizza Head over in some fashion, with Pizza Head frequently saying "Hey, he's not a !" to which the announcer would always say "Sure he is!"[[/folder]]

[[folder:Animation]]* The rabbit from ''Animation/MashaAndTheBear'' goes through much abuse and antics.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''** The goblins; regardless of whatever world, goblins are always on the short end of the stick. In a twist [[LethalJokeCharacter they can actually be used to devastating effect in the game.]]** Squee in particular deserves an honorable mention. He was stuck in a cycle of dying horribly, and then mysteriously coming back to life, just so he could die horribly again. Hell, the usefulness of his in-game card revolved around the fact that it could be discarded/sacrificed/chewed-on over and over, turn after turn. [[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': Charlie Brown is the absolute king of this trope. For fifty years the entire universe tried new and creative ways to mess with him.-->'''Charlie Brown :''' Sometimes I lie awake at night and I ask: "Why me?" And a voice answers: "Nothing personal, your name just happened to come up."* Jon Arbuckle of ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' is practically the adult Charlie Brown.-->'''Jon:''' You wouldn't believe what happened to me! I went out to get the paper, and my robe got caught on a passing street sweeper. I swept five neighborhoods with my FACE before I could get the driver's attention. It took three fire companies and a crowbar to get me loose. I'm lucky to be alive... What happened to my muffin?\\'''Garfield:''' [[{{Jerkass}} I ate it, vac-boy. Where's the paper?]]* The title character of Australian comic ''Snake''. The plots of typical strips include: Snake tells a bad joke and gets smashed under his own rock; Snake fails to get anywhere with Lady Snake and gets smashed under his own rock; Snake is randomly abused by tourists and gets smashed under his own rock; Snake gets a package airmail that smashes him into a pulp, but for a change isn't smashed under his own rock; and the list goes on.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]* ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'' makes Sasuke into this. [[spoiler:He gets mind controlled by the Blood Drinker Demon, and has to be rescued by Naruto. He manages to beat Orochimaru, but that turns out to be all part of Orochimaru's plan. He goes after Itachi, only to be defeated and get his team killed by Kisame. He lets Ororchimaru take over his body in return for Orochimaru killing Itachi. Except that during the fight Orochimaru manipulates it so Sasuke learns the truth about Itachi and the Uchiha slaughter (different from canon) rendering everything Sasuke has done pointless. Finally, Sasuke sacrifices himself to give Naruto a chance to finish Orochimaru.]]* In ''Fanfic/RetroChill'', [[ShrinkingViolet Bob]] serves as this while serving Retro and the aliens. This is why he pulls a HeelFaceTurn later on.* Adahn (Legion in this universe) throughout the first act of ''FanFic/AvatarOfVictory''; whenever it tries to contact Shepard and her team, it always ends with it getting shot and having to repair itself with whatever clutter is nearby.* [[AlphaBitch Connie d'Amico]] in the ''Fanfic/MegsFamilySeries'' as it went on. Of note is "Oh My God! We Killed Connie!" where she is attacked by bees, leeches, and other things to the point that she appears to be dead, and is repeatedly hit by Meg or Zack (and in one instance Lois) while they think she actually is dead.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Machinima]]* {{Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4}}: Luigi and Toad, althrough Luigi is the one being most mistreated by the cast.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]* In his career as keyboardist for Music/{{Rammstein}}, Christian "Flake" Lorenz has played a suicide bomber, played a suicide jumper, played a hermaphrodite, was electrocuted, abandoned at his spot, cooked, sodomized and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking made to walk on a treadmill]]. Though this is a case of mileage varying, some still see him as TheWoobie.* In the Music/TwistedSister videos for "I Wanna Rock" and "We're not Gonna Take It," [[Film/AnimalHouse Mark]] [[TheNeidermeyer Metcalf]] is repeatedly abused in a Wile E. Coyote-like fashion: repeatedly tossed through windows, diving onto wet cement, getting launched through a basketball hoop, and getting dynamite blown up in his face. The videos do set it up so that he deserves what he gets.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinball]]* In ''Pinball/HumptyDumpty'', the titular character is pushed off of the wall to entertain the other characters.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]* Fat-Blue/Mr. Johnson in ''Series/SesameStreet.'' Whether or not Grover is taking his order, he has bad luck at restaurants.* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'':** Beaker was brought in as a lab assistant for Dr Bunsen Honeydew to test his inventions on. They invariably went wrong. Over time he began to be used in more skits outside of Muppet Labs, which usually also involved him getting hurt somehow, even if he was the only one taking part in the skit. He seems to be one of the more popular Muppets, judging by how frequently he is used (and tormented) in the Website/YouTube videos that The Muppets Studio are currently producing.** Bean Bunny often finds himself squished between a wall and an opening door or having piles of props crash on top of him. {{Word of God}} has it that it's become something of a [[BreakTheCutie break the cutie]] [[RunningGag running gag]] on the set of Muppet productions.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]* ''Bluebottle'' of ''Radio/TheGoonShow'', perhaps the ultimate canonical Chew Toy. "You rotten swine! You have deaded me again! Look, my beautiful nut is all singed!"* Gerard Hoffnung's "Bricklayer's Lament" monologue, turned into a song called "The Sick Note": a bricklayer falls off a fourteen-story building, suffering numerous amusing injuries along the way.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''** The Necrons have been going through a phase of Chew Toy status, amusing and pleasing some players to no end.** The [[AmazonBrigade Sisters of Battle]] are like this to Games Workshop. In almost every piece of fluff they appear in they get killed and mutilated in horrendous and increasing pointless ways. While martyrdom is a theme of the Sisters, it has become overdone.*** It has been overdone so much that quite a few of Games Workshop's writers, including Matt Ward, have been accused of ''[[HeManWomanHater misogyny]]''.** There's also the Imperial Guard. While they do have their moments, they are usually the ones who suffer the worse ends of everything the Imperium encounters and die by the billions in every possible outcome in the universe can throw at. Indeed, this tendency is commonly what endears them to their fans, as it underlines the Guard's bravery.*** Forgeworld's Elysian regiments are subject to this: they've lost every battle they appeared in (three Imperial Armour books so far) and have also suffered disaster in at least one Black Library novel.*** Even more so, PDF. Justified by the fact that stories about PDF doing their job and annihilating the invader by themselves are barely exciting, despite being rather frequent in-universe. ** You need to show how cool is this new special character is? [[WorfEffect Make him kill an Avatar.]] Seriously, in 6th edition Eldar lost every single battle in all codices. Including their own. * Brave/foolish/insane players can do this to their own characters with the right disadvantage in many game systems:** ''{{TabletopGame/GURPS}}'' has Unluckiness, and then Cursed for those who ''really'' want to get it.** Humorously, one available in some older rulebooks is Jinxed, which turns everyone ''but'' the afflicted character into one while in their presence. For obvious reasons, it has been removed now.** Fantasy Flight's 40K roleplaying games usually have some variant disadvantage that does this to characters -- TabletopGame/OnlyWar has "Doomed," which can wreck an entire regiment's life.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]* Ko-Ko in ''Theatre/TheMikado''. His hilarious miseries, in order of appearance: getting thrown in prison [[DisproportionateRetribution for flirting]], being ordered to ''cut off his own head'' unless he can find someone willing to die in his place; having someone offer to die only on the condition of spending a month married to his fiancée first; ending up feeling so sorry for the substitute that he allows him to elope with the fiancée; getting sentenced to a slow death involving boiling oil, and finally [[spoiler:having to marry the hideous, bloodthirsty Katisha in order to save his own hide]]. [[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]* Lewa from ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'' tends to be either this or TheWoobie, depending on the situation. While he has some genuinely disturbing things happen to him, his [[ThePollyanna upbeat attitude]] and [[CasualDangerDialog tendency to crack jokes about his predicaments]] make his misadventures funny rather than depressing. For example, his reaction to [[GrandTheftMe having his body stolen]], [[BodyHorror being turned into an]] EldritchAbomination (he got better), being ThrownOutTheAirlock, ending up in a strange jungle full of [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot cyborg dinosaurs that shoot laser beams]], and then being [[CapturedByCannibals captured by savages]] in the space of what seems like only 24 hours:-->'''Lewa:''' Oh. It's going to be ''this'' kind of day.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]* Virtually every character in ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends''.* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' ** Strong Sad is continually put upon by the other characters, who seem to find something repugnant in his [[{{Gonk}} odd physical build]] and [[TheEeyore unceasing pessimism]]. ** Although you can occasionally predict how things will swing in a given situation, all the characters are Chew Toys now and again, based mostly on the RuleOfFunny; the abuse goes to whoever it's funniest to abuse for this cartoon.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]* Katia Managan from ''Webcomic/{{Prequel}}''. Generally, the whole story is about her getting punched by life hard and trying to recover. And it's been like this for three years.[[/folder]]----